Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are the armed forces of Israel, founded in 1948 after Israel declared its independence in May 1948. Trained and equipped by the United States since the Six-Day War of 1967, the IDF are some of the most powerful soldiers in the Middle East, and Israel won every defensive war that it fought against its Arab neighbors: the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the Six-Day War, and Yom Kippur War, while making organized withdrawals from the Suez Crisis of 1956 and from the Lebanese Civil War in 1985. The IDF's several wars in so few years leave it as one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world. Service in the military is mandatory for all citizens of Israel over the age of 18, and the IDF has 176,500 active personnel and 445,000 in the reserves.